It was in the 1990s that I received a phone call from Steven Pinker who wanted to make the world aware of the work of Judith Rich Harris, an unheralded psychologist who was advocating a revolutionary idea which she discussed in her 1999 Edge interview, “Children don't do things half way: children don’t compromise,” in which she said “How the parents rear the child has no long-term effects on the child's personality, intelligence, or mental health.”  

From the very early days of Edge, Judith Rich Harris was the gift that kept giving. Beginning in 1998, with her response to “What Questions Are You Asking Yourself” through “The Last Question” in 2016, she exemplified the role of the Third Culture intellectual: “those scientists and other thinkers in the empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking the place of the traditional intellectual in rendering visible the deeper meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are.”

Her subsequent Edge essays over the years focused on subjects as varied as natural selection, parenting styles, the effect of genes on human behavior, twin studies, the survival of friendship, beauty as truth, among others are evidence of a keen intellect and a fearless thinker determined to advance science-based thinking as well as her own controversial ideas.

In this special 16,000-word edition of Edge, dedicated to the memory of Judith Rich Harris, we take a deep dive into her ideas.

—JB

 I was talking about maps and feelings, and whether the brain is analog or digital. I’ll give you a little bit of what I wrote:

Brains use maps to process information. Information from the retina goes to several areas of the brain where the picture seen by the eye is converted into maps of various kinds. Information from sensory nerves in the skin goes to areas where the information is converted into maps of the body. The brain is full of maps. And a big part of the activity is transferring information from one map to another.

As we know from our own use of maps, mapping from one picture to another can be done either by digital or by analog processing. Because digital cameras are now cheap and film cameras are old fashioned and rapidly becoming obsolete, many people assume that the process of mapping in the brain must be digital. But the brain has been evolving over millions of years and does not follow our ephemeral fashions. A map is in its essence an analog device, using a picture to represent another picture. The imaging in the brain must be done by direct comparison of pictures rather than by translations of pictures into digital form.

FREEMAN DYSON, emeritus professor of physics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, has worked on nuclear reactors, solid-state physics, ferromagnetism, astrophysics, and biology, looking for problems where elegant mathematics could be usefully applied. His books include Disturbing the Universe, Weapons and Hope, Infinite in All Directions, and Maker of Patterns. Freeman Dyson's Edge Bio Page

Jean Pigozzi & Paul Allen at the Edge Dinner (March 17, 2014)

It was Microsoft’s phenomenal success, early in the evolution of the microcomputer, that made it possible for Paul to make so many other significant contributions to the world, and that success may well have never occurred without Paul’s ability to deliver on the dream to supply the software for all of the microcomputers in the world, beginning with BASIC, and to do so in the early days of the industry. Those at MITS who knew Paul always referred to him as a brilliant polymath and a true gentleman. His quiet, easy going manner, great sense of humor, love of music, guitars, software in all of its forms, compassion and concern for others, together with a totally committed work ethic served as a great role model at MITS.

EDDIE CURRIE is an Associate Professor in Hofstra’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. From 1975 to 1978, he was Executive Vice President and General Manager for MITS, the first commercially viable, microcomputer-based personal computer company, where he was involved in the development and manufacture of the Altair and recruitment and supervision of the staff, which included Paul Allen and Bill Gates (founders of Microsoft). Eddie Currie's Edge Bio Page

Reality Club: Jean Pigozzi

PAUL ALLEN REMEMBERED

In 1974, a small company called MITS, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was struggling to survive as it watched its kit calculator business being destroyed by Texas Instrument’s draconian calculator price-cutting. An Intel salesman dropped off a data sheet for a new microprocessor called the 8080. That evening the president of the company, Ed Roberts, took the data sheet home and, using an HP calculator, concluded that Intel’s newest product was quite capable of becoming the heart of a microcomputer. Roberts went to a local bank and presented a hastily drafted business plan and when asked by a bank officer how many computers could be sold, he responded “800.” The bank assumed that he meant 800/month and granted the loan. In actuality, Roberts meant 800/year.

Eddie Currie

Also in 1974, some two thousand miles away in Boston, two young men were monitoring Intel’s microprocessor evolution and dreaming of building a microcomputer based on a microprocessor. The Intel 8080 was announced in April of 1974, but it wasn’t until December of that year, in Electronic Design magazine, that a full instruction set was published. As soon as Paul Allen and Bill Gates saw the article, work began by both, using Harvard computing resources, that ultimately resulted in an 8080 simulator that ran on a DEC PDP-10 and the creation of a 4K version of the BASIC language that would run on the simulator.

Thus MITS had hardware and no computer language, and Bill and Paul had a computer language but no hardware. The breakthrough came in the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, published in late December of 1974, featuring the “MITS’ Altair, for the world’s first microcomputer kit,” on the cover.

Paul Allen sent a letter to MITS on January 2, 1975, explaining that his company had a BASIC interpreter that could be marketed on paper tape and/or floppy disk and run on the MITS microcomputer. Ed Roberts' response was immediate and resulted in Paul flying to Albuquerque a few days later with a paper tape and successfully demonstrating Microsoft BASIC running on an Altair. Microsoft was founded as Micro-Soft, on April 4, 1975.

I also played a role. Ed Roberts and I had grown up together, attended the same elementary school, junior high and high school, and were best friends. From 1975-78 I worked alongside him at MITS as Executive Vice President and General Manager, which involved supervising the work of Paul and Bill. At one point, I asked Paul and Bill about Microsoft’s ultimate goal. Their response came quickly and succinctly, viz., “… Microsoft wants to supply software for all of the microcomputers in the world…” This unequivocal mission statement was to serve Microsoft well in the years to come. It also resulted in Microsoft staking a claim to what would later become a hotly contested domain. Such a clear vision was surprising not only for its breadth and scope but also because they were 18 and 20, respectively, at the time. While Bill and Paul early on collaborated on software development, overtime Bill’s focus was primarily on business development and Paul’s on software development.

A book of essays claims the authority to interpret, carries the militant title "Reclaim Autonomy”, and demands self-empowerment.